Anthony Giambrone opens The Bible and the Priesthood: Priestly Participation in the One Sacrifice for Sins with the words of Pope Benedict XVI, “The abandonment of the Christological interpretation of the Old Testament led many contemporary exegetes to a deficient theology of worship…. As a result, some went so far as to reject the necessity of an authentically cultic priesthood in the New Covenant (3).” Giambrone sees Benedict’s lament as an invitation to read Holy Scripture, particularly the Old Testament, Christologically (in a Christ-focused manner) with the goal of proving the reality of a cultic/sacrifice-oriented priesthood in the New Testament and by extension the Church. Such an exegetical (interpretive) task is a tall order, but Giambrone is careful to limit the scope of the work. Particularly geared toward Roman Catholic seminarians, his modest goal is to provide a “reading guide for thinking scripturally about Holy Orders: introductory, incomplete, and schematic, yet with sufficient landmarks staked out to permit the unhurried navigation of a few essential themes as I see them (5).”
After setting the groundwork for his exegesis by articulating his guiding Roman Catholic theological commitments, Giambrone begins with three chapters covering the priesthood in the Old Testament. Chapter 2 (Lev 9:23) focuses on the ordination rite by which men in the line of Aaron were set apart for priestly service. This chapter focuses on the priest’s ordination, sacrificial character, role in the purification of the people and temple, and revelation of the glory of God. Intriguingly, Giambrone makes the case that Leviticus 8-9 is in the center of the Pentateuch and the tabernacle is shown to be the place where God’s glory is revealed. Due to the chiastic structure of the Pentatuch, with Aaron’s consecration in the center of it, the tabernacle is a portable Sinai, with the priests being the Pentateuch’s central revelation of God’s glory (42-43).
The next two chapters fill out a well-rounded picture of the Old Testament priesthood: Priestly Sin and the Prophetic Critique (Hosea 4:9) deals with the reality of “bad priests” whose primary failings were hypocrisy, improper sacrifices, and not teaching the people according to the law (97). The Promise of a New Priesthood (Zech. 3:4) details the Old Testament’s eschatological (future-oriented) hope for a new priesthood cleansed of sin and impurity (144). Giambrone’s main point in these chapters is show that the validity and the necessity of the priesthood was never in question, but simply the abuse thereof.
The last two interpretive chapters show how the New Testament understands Jesus as the great high priest who both fulfills and transforms previous conceptions of the sacrificial Old Testament priesthood in himself. Chapter 5 (John 21:17) gives a close reading of the gospels and shows Jesus’ priestly identity and its connecting of hierarchical authority expressed through self-sacrificial service (190). A Spiritual Temple, a Holy Priesthood (1 Pet. 2:5) concludes the book with a reading of the Epistles that begins to link sacrificial/priestly language to both Christ and the Church with a special focus on priestly language’s connection to ministry in the New Covenant. “The Old Covenant cult, through the power of the gospel and message of Christ’s cross, is transposed to an elect and living temple, where spiritual sacrifice is constantly offered to God” (235).
The final chapter, Jesus as Charismatic Founder of a Hierarchical Church, is dense and ambitious. Firstly, it aims to prove that hierarchical structure and charismatic movement are not at odds. Rather, Jesus’ charismatic gifting (empowered as he is by the Holy Spirit) is the basis for the hierarchical structure of the church, of which he is the head (266-268). In addition, Giambrone deals with the contentious questions of women’s ordination and priestly celibacy, ultimately concluding with the traditional Roman Catholic perspective on both.
This book is unlikely to convince those who do not already hold to Giambrone’s theological commitments, since the Roman Catholic priesthood cannot be proved by a few simple proof texts, but it is nevertheless an incredibly insightful and interesting preliminary biblical theology of the priesthood. In addition to the chapters outlined above, it also includes two interpretive excurses after every main chapter, as well as sidebars with reflections on patristic interpretation of the relevant biblical material.
This book ultimately succeeds in its goal of offering a “reading guide for thinking scripturally about Holy Orders: introductory, incomplete, and schematic.” It will certainly be a beneficial resource to Roman Catholic seminarians, interested laity, or curious Protestants.
The Reverend David M. Svihel is a PhD student in divinity at the University of Aberdeen.
David M. Svihel
Date Of Review:
October 30, 2024
